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The Bexar County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) arrested two men last week for assaulting another who had severe intellectual disabilities. The arrest included a now former sheriff's deputy.
The sheriff's department said former deputy Tony Israel, 45, along with Maofu Home Health employees Benjamin Tambe, 53, and Harrison Odire, 52, abused the man with a severe intellectual disability, smacking him around at times, and harshly administering medication at a facility located at 7314 Highland Lake Drive.
Tambe and Israel were arrested Thursday. BCSO is still looking for Odire.
This is not the first time that Maofu Home Health has been accused of mistreating its residents.
The facility’s ownership, Maofu Home Health, has had a checkered past, including the near death of a 15-year-old boy last year.
TPR reported when a 15-year-old at a Sugar Land-based Maofu facility was nearly killed through overmedication.
The boy was on life support for many days and had a “do not resuscitate” order at one point.
Advocates for the boy previously complained about the conditions, saying medications were being left unattended in common areas accessible to children and disabled adults and bedrooms with feces spread on the walls.
The state ombudsman said Maofu staff's neglect caused the incident.
Federal court monitors overseeing Texas’ foster care system, which was responsible for the boy, found that staff members were deliberately trying to mislead the boy’s advocates, saying he had been transferred out of the facility when he was moved to another home owned by the same operator.
The boy’s near death echoed the allegations in the Bexar County incident, in which the father of the autistic man placed video cameras in his room due to abuse suspicions, according to BCSO.
“Our top priority is protecting the health, safety and well-being of people served by the facilities and providers we regulate,” said Jennifer Ruffcorn, press officer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), which is responsible for regulating these facilities.
HHSC did not respond to TPR's questions about why Maofu was allowed to continue operating despite citations and the incident last year. HHSC’s investigation into Maofu over the Bexar County arrests is ongoing.
According to BCSO, Maofu CEO Anne Holland was also cited for the treatment of the 29-year-old man.
